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Jeanfromfillmore
05-05-2010, 02:01 AM
Suns to Wear 'Los Suns' Jerseys to Protest Law
Associated Press
The decision to wear the jerseys on the Cinco de Mayo holiday stems from an illegal immigration law passed by the Arizona Legislature and signed by Gov. Jan Brewer.
PHOENIX — The Phoenix Suns will wear "Los Suns" on their jerseys in Game 2 of the Western Conference semifinals on Wednesday night, owner Robert Sarver said, "to honor our Latino community and the diversity of our league, the state of Arizona, and our nation."
The decision to wear the jerseys on the Cinco de Mayo holiday stems from a law passed by the Arizona Legislature and signed by Gov. Jan Brewer that has drawn widespread criticism from Latino organizations and civil rights groups that say it could lead to racial profiling of Hispanics. President Barack Obama has called the law "misguided."
Sarver, who was born and raised in Tucson, said frustration with the federal government's failure to deal with the illegal immigration issue led to the passage of what he called "a flawed state law."
"However intended, the result of passing the law is that our basic principles of equal rights and protection under the law are being called into question," he said, "and Arizona's already struggling economy will suffer even further setbacks at a time when the state can ill-afford them."
The measure makes it a crime under state law to be in the country illegally, and it directs local police to question people about their immigration status and demand to see their documents if there is reason to suspect they are illegal.
The controversy surrounding the law has led to picketing at some road games of baseball's Arizona Diamondbacks and a call from the Rev. Jesse Jackson for major league baseball to move next year's All-Star Game from Phoenix.
Sarver came up with the "Los Suns" jersey idea but left it up to the players for the final decision, Suns guard Steve Nash said, and all of them were for it.
"I think it's fantastic," Nash said after Tuesday's practice. "I think the law is very misguided. I think it's, unfortunately, to the detriment of our society and our civil liberties. I think it's very important for us to stand up for things we believe in. As a team and as an organization, we have a lot of love and support for all of our fans. The league is very multicultural. We have players from all over the world, and our Latino community here is very strong and important to us."
Nash was born in South Africa and moved with his parents to Victoria, British Columbia, when he was 1½ years old. He was one of four Canadians to light the torch in the opening ceremony of the Vancouver Olympics this year.
San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich said his team was interested in taking part but couldn't get new "Los Spurs" road jerseys in time for the game.
"It's a wonderful idea," Popovich said. "because it kind of shows what we all should be about. Sure there needs to be a lot of work done, obviously. A lot of administrations have done nothing about the immigration deal and now everybody's paying the price, especially a lot of people in Arizona. That's a bad thing, but the reaction is important, too, and this reaction (the Arizona law), I believe with Mr. Sarver, is inappropriate."
Phoenix general manager Steve Kerr said he and Sarver talked about making the gesture as the team flew home from Portland last week.
"We just felt like it was important," Kerr said. "We're in the public eye and this is obviously a huge issue. We acknowledge there are two sides to the issue and there are a lot of dynamics. It's a difficult thing to sift through and there are going to be differing opinions. But what we're focusing on is we want to celebrate the diversity that exists in our state and the diversity that exists in the NBA, make sure that people understand that we know what's going on and we don't agree with the law itself."
The NBA Players Association released a statement criticizing Arizona's immigration law and praising the Suns for the gesture.
"We applaud the actions of Phoenix Suns players and management and join them in taking a stand against the misguided efforts of Arizona lawmakers," the NBAPA said. "We are consulting with our members and our player leadership to determine the most effective way for our union to continue to voice our opposition to this legislation."
But Kerr said "this isn't a huge political stand as much as it is just a celebration of diversity."
He said the Suns called the NBA for approval "and they were all for it."
Suns coach Alvin Gentry didn't want to comment on Arizona's immigration bill and said he was focused on showing appreciation for the Latino community and Arizona's diversity.
"I'm not trying to duck it," Gentry said. "I don't know enough about it to really comment on it. I would think that if it had anything to do with racial profiling, then obviously as an African-American I would not be for anything that had any hint of racial profiling."
The Suns wore the "Los Suns" jerseys twice in the regular season, and won both games.
"It's going to be great to wear Los Suns," Phoenix's Amare Stoudemire said, "to let the Latin community know that we're behind them 100 percent."
http://www.foxnews.com/sports/2010/05/04/suns-wear-los-suns-jerseys-g

Rim05
05-05-2010, 06:07 AM
I hope the Lakers are not foolish enough to start any kind of protest against the law. I am really looking foward to seeing them win another ring but let them start this kind of stuff and I am out of here and never to watch them again.

MowMyOwn
05-05-2010, 01:40 PM
I hope the Lakers are not foolish enough to start any kind of protest against the law. I am really looking foward to seeing them win another ring but let them start this kind of stuff and I am out of here and never to watch them again.
The NBA should stay out of politics altogether, but the "Los Suns" jersey's aren't anything new.

The NBA has an annual Latino Appreciation night for the Latino community, fans and players of Hispanic heritage (Remember Pao Gasol is from Spain). A lot of the NBA teams wore special made jersey's during the game, so the "Los Suns" jersey's are not anything special as they already had them on hand.
But I really think they (the Suns) should ditch the political stance on the immigration law and stick to basketball.

Here's a link
http://www.nba.com/2009/news/features/03/03/noche.latina.release/index.html

MowMyOwn
05-05-2010, 05:49 PM
Wow, check out this poll on ESPN about "Los Suns"

(Rest your mouse on a state to get individual states polls)

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/fp/flashPollResultsState?sportIndex=frontpage&pollId=90481

admin
05-05-2010, 05:58 PM
You'll have to take into consideration that this poll is mainly from sports enthusiasts, and not a general audience

MowMyOwn
05-05-2010, 06:14 PM
You'll have to take into consideration that this poll is mainly from sports enthusiasts, and not a general audience

My interpretation is that most don't agree with politics interfering with the playoffs, but we've already heard that the general population is for this law so it's probably not too far off.

It's no wonder that Ca. is one of the very few blue states, Hawaii actually surprised me.

Rim05
05-05-2010, 06:21 PM
Last year either the Suns or Spurs had Los .......on their jerseys for a game. At the time I wondered where this was going. As you said keep politics out of sports. Old David Stern has already given his ok to this. Stern is another one who feels his importance too much.

Rim05
05-06-2010, 06:56 AM
good news! The suns lost last night.
May they loose all of the remaining play off games. :d

Ole Glory
05-06-2010, 10:02 AM
good news! The suns lost last night.
May they loose all of the remaining play off games. :d

Thanks for the up-date, Rim05. That is good news. If they lose all the remaining games, that would be better news. Go Down In Flames Los Sol!:D

MowMyOwn
05-06-2010, 12:03 PM
good news! The suns lost last night.
May they loose all of the remaining play off games. :d
That's not true, the Suns won last nights game. I favor the Spurs, but in this case I'm glad the Suns won and will continue the in the series . . . the state of AZ needs the revenue from fans and ticket sales etc. The state needs to be economically strong right now, if for nothing else to prove that they can do without illegals and these "boycotts".

Hell... I'd even go as far as to say I hope they win the title! GO ARIZONA!

Rim05
05-06-2010, 03:45 PM
I checked the paper and you are correct. I had looked at the score on my pc and I think it said they lost. I only watch Laker games. I can see your point in wanting the revenue for the state though.
I DID here some place today that Phil Jackson said he did not think the NBA should be involved in politics. I finally agree with him on something.
I still hope the Suns go down in flames.

Ole Glory
05-07-2010, 08:55 AM
I was watching T.V last night and they showed a clip of the VIEW. Sherry, was talking about a Census worker that came to her Apartment. Sitting at the VIEW's table was Whoopie Goldberg wearing a LOS SUN's jersey. How low can you go?:eek:

Rim05
05-07-2010, 07:48 PM
Sitting at the VIEW's table was Whoopie Goldberg wearing a LOS SUN's jersey. How low can you go?

What did you expect from Whoopie? She is a foul mouth comic. Making some kind of dumb statement is what she does all the time. I guess that is what comics do.

MowMyOwn
05-08-2010, 05:42 PM
The Phoenix Suns are up 3 - 0, it's very possible they will play the Lakers for the Western Conference Title.